The market started up from the get-go, but the move failed right at resistance, came down, bounced once, couldn't get back up through the resistance levels, and then came down VERY hard in a nasty morning slide that saw the NDX drop from 1510 to 1486 in about a half hour. The S&P dropped from 1175 to 1166 in that period of time.

The rest of the afternoon was spent bouncing sideways in what looked like bear flags. They did make a late move that broke through those flags to the upside, and they closed on a positive note but down on the session.

The Dow was down 40, although that was about 40 points off the lows. So we made up about half the Dow's losses just in the last half hour or so.

The S&P was down 3.19, but about 5 point off the low, so a good bounce-back there as well. The NDX closed under 1500 at 1499 and change, down 8 but about 13 points off the low. The Composite was down about 11 and change and about 11 points off the low.

The technicals were negative by only 17 to 15 on New York and about 3 to 2 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was negative on both exchanges by 3 to 2 approximately with a total of about 1.7 billion traded on New York and about 2 1/3 billion on Nasdaq, very heavy volume today.

Reviewing TheTechTrader.com board, there were some outstanding issues today. Air T (AIRT) absolutely rocketed in the late afternoon when they reported earnings, from 12 1/2 to closing at the high for the day at 16.07, up 2.95. Looked like some short-covering there.

One of our major Charts of the Week Watchboard positions, Cryptologic (CRYP), was up 1.26, moving to a new multi-year high earlier in the session.

Magma Design (LAVA), a new stock we traded today, rocketed ahead early in the day and went sideways for the rest of the session in a consolidation, but closed up 2.07. Viacell (VIAC) came back with a vengeance up 70 cents.

On the downside, Broadcom (BRCM) down 85 cents, Nitromed (NTMD) off 58 cents and Harmonic Lightwave (HLIT) 54 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the overall patterns, the consolidation we've had over the last few days broke to the downside today, but the previous lows did hold, and the market managed to rally off of a higher level.

Early next week we'll have some key sessions to determine whether or not we can follow back up through key overhead resistance, which right exists around the 1514 zone on the Nasdaq 100 and up around the 1177 area on the S&P 500.

A break through those levels could trigger an extension of the rally, but a take-out of today's lows could be disastrous, and we'll see which way they go on Monday.

Good trading!

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his day, swing and intermediate-term trades. For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a FREE 15-day trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary, or sign up for a Free 30-Day Trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.